Unfinished Business
by TheEarthLight
Summary: Lily, Snape, and the Marauders are dead, however, stuck in a mysterious room in the afterlife, they still have much to discuss... LilySnape


"Not Harry, don't take Harry, please, _please_, I'll do _anything_!" The words echoed round Lily's head like a boomerang as she fell to the ground. Not the floor of her house though… a cold, stony floor which she had never felt beneath her feet before.

"Lily? Lily?" a voice cried. She recognised that voice immediately - James. She got up, off the floor, her face covered with tears, and flung her arms round James.

"You're here, you're here! But Harry, where is he? Where are we? Oh, James, James…" He seemed calm and composed, at least more so than Lily.

"I think we're in the afterlife, Lily. I think we're waiting for someone…" James said quietly, eyeing the room. He could guess who. He was waiting for the person who betrayed him, who betrayed his family, who had ended their lives. He hadn't thought of another person, though, who may want to talk to him.

The room was empty, apart from a wooden table and chairs, and several torches which were dimly lighting the room. Trying to force back his anger, he gave her a squeeze.

"But, b-but, what about our Harry? He's only a baby! Oh, Harry, poor, poor, Harry," Lily sobbed.

"Maybe…" said James desperately, "maybe Sirius got there in time – he said he might visit". With a thud, the man himself fell backwards onto the dusty floor. He looked old… much older. He was brandishing his wand as if duelling, and scrambled up to point it at them. His eyes became suddenly alive as he recognised the two people standing over him.

"Lily! James! Who, w-what, what's going on?" he cried, thumping his arms down on one each of their shoulders, "You died… fifteen years ago!"

"We saw you yesterday, Sirius…" James said, raising his eyebrows, "Oh God, did you go into the house, and die trying to save us? Don't say you did, Sirius, not another lost life – you _and_ Harry…"

"Harry's fine! You've been dead for years, and your boy is renowned throughout the wizarding world for being the boy who survived Lord Voldemort's curse. It rebounded, killing Voldemort. You two were the last victims of the first wizarding war."

"First?" asked Lily sharply.

"He's back. The Ministry are in denial but it's true. Bellatrix Lestrange killed me… in a battle in the Department of Mysteries. I fell into the Veil."

He looked around the room with interest. "The afterlife…" he muttered. James suddenly remembered the question he'd been asking to himself a minute earlier. As a rush of anger swept through him, he ran towards Sirius, and started shaking him by the shoulders.

"Tell me it wasn't you Sirius, tell me it wasn't you!" he cried, shaking him vigorously.

"God, no!" Sirius cried, looking deeply into his eyes. "Are you asking if I betrayed you? If I was your Secret Keeper? No, not me, it was Pettigrew!" James let go of Sirius's shoulders, and collapsed onto a nearby chair.

"Of course… I'm so sorry, Sirius. Of course I knew it wasn't you." He muttered, head in his hands.

"The public wasn't so sure about that, though," Sirius mumbled, "I spent twelve years rotting in Azkaban. I had cornered Pettigrew, I had him! But then he blasted the street killing a fair number of muggles, and fled as a rat in the confusion. He framed me, and I was sent straight to prison for betraying you and killing all those people, including Pettigrew, while he became some kind of dead martyr in the public eye." Angrily, James hammered the wall. He muttered something under his breath which neither Sirius nor Lily could make out.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Sirius… Harry, is he okay?"

"He's brilliant," he said, smiling, "handsome, brave, intelligent… Everything you could ever wish for in a son…" Lily glanced at James and smiled at him. All they had to do now was wait.

"And can I say, Sirius," James said, grinning, "You look very good for your age…" Everyone chuckled, then went silent. Sirius rose to his feet and started pacing the room.

"Old Snivellus deserved what he got with us," Sirius began quietly. "You know he's a Death Eater. And he's probably teaching Harry a Potions lesson right now…" James's eyes lit up, as his hands went to his mouth.

"You're kidding me! But Dumbledore, hasn't he sacked him? Surely he must know…"

"Sadly, Dumbledore has got it into his head that Snape is to be trusted. He couldn't be more wrong. Don't worry though, Harry's still being cautious. I know he's talked to Dumbledore about this, but Harry just can't make him face the truth. Dumbledore's right about many things, but this isn't one of them…" Sirius slumped back onto a chair. Lily was silent throughout Sirius's dialogue. She was staring down into her lap, regretting thoughts running through her head.

Another thump came from behind them. Everyone turned to see who it was. Within what seemed like a second, James had raced over to him, and pinned him against the wall.

"_You traitor! You… bloody, deceitful traitor!_" James cried. Lily could see some tears in him eyes, "_We welcomed you into our group! We were your friends… AND YOU KILLED US! YES - THAT'S WHAT YOU DID, YOU NEARLY KILLED HARRY-" _By now James was shaking Pettigrew's body back and forth so much, that you couldn't see his tiny, ugly, rat-like features any more. Sirius was standing next to Lily, staring at the scene, a look of complete contempt in his eyes.

"Stop it. Stop it, James!" Lily murmered. He paid no attention, "STOP IT!" James did as he was asked, and dropped Pettigrew to the floor, shaking his head. Wormtail looked up at the three of them, and glared at them through his tiny, squinty eyes.

"Y-your son and his friend attacked me… And they just watched… _this _kill me!" he whispered, pointing at his silver hand. It was now limp and motionless.

"Well, I'm not surprised! You did owe him a life debt, didn't you?" Sirius said, "And I don't think anyone would be driven to save the life of someone who had handed their parents over to Lord Voldemort-"

"He didn't sit back and watch you die, did he, _Wormtail_," James said, obviously deep in thought. "My son wouldn't have done that…" Pettigrew looked uncomfortable, and was deliberately avoiding his gaze, "Now answer me this, _did_ my son try to prevent your death?" Pettigrew was silent.

"He wasn't _trying_… not properly trying-"

"You said Harry watched you die… Now you're admitting that he tried to help you..." Lily said, eyeing him. "You're a bundle of lies, aren't you? He was trying to save the life of someone who would probably hand him over to his death!" Wormtail began saying something, but James interrupted.

"And you tried coming over all innocent and wronged! You're _pathetic_!" he cried, suddenly flinching like he was about to attack him. With a thud, the fifth person to arrive appeared on the dusty floor. Remus Lupin.

"Moony!" Sirius cried, "Welcome to the afterlife!" It was evident that Sirius immensely enjoyed saying that.

"This? The afterlife? You must be joking!" he cried, looking around. He, too, appeared to have been duelling at his moment of death. He beamed as he saw James and Lily. He ran towards them and greeted them all warmly. Squinting, he peered around Lily's head to see Pettigrew clawing at a door that obviously wasn't going to move. He moved over to him and gave him a great punch in the stomach. Uncharacteristic as violence was from Lupin, it was very much in his personality to defend his friends.

"That's all I have to say to you!" Remus whispered in his ear.

"So, how did you get here?" Lily asked.

"There's a huge battle at Hogwarts happening this very minute. Tonks perished too… I must find her… _Tonks..._"

"Stop the clocks," said James. "Who's Tonks?"

"My, er, wife," he said awkwardly.

"But we all thought you were –"

"How time flies!" Lily said loudly, to spare Lupin's embarrassment. "How old are you now, Remus?"

"Nearing forty, much too old-"

"Much too young to die, rather!" James exclaimed. "Look at us all, all the Marauders, dead – we were all young and alive a few days ago… how does time slip away in this afterlife?"

"It seems time as we experience it in this room has no parallel with time in the real world," said Lupin. "People arrive as they die, but only those relevant to your life. If there is nothing you need to resolve, then you'll go straight on." Everyone looked confused. "Just my theory," he said modestly. "On another subject, you'll never guess who's headmaster of Hogwarts."

"Go on then: who?" James asked.

"Severus Snape," Lupin said gloomily. James suddenly realised how corrupt the wizarding world had become.

"And Dumbledore? What happened to him?" James asked earnestly.

"Snape killed him. Harry was there, he saw everything." Lupin replied quietly, shaking his head.

"He paid the price for trusting Severus… I _knew _something like this would happen!" Sirius said, head in hands.

Frowning, Lily looked at everyone and asked the question everyone had been thinking. "Why are we still here? Why are we here at all? If we were confined in this room together to speak to Pettigrew, then surely we should be onto the next stage of afterlife, whatever that is."

As if he was answering her question, Snape appeared in the room like all of them had earlier. Coldly, through the long, lingering silence, he looked around the room and its inhabitants. There were six chairs around the table. Obviously this was the last instalment. James stepped forward to meet him.

"I take it you haven't killed my son yet, like Dumbledore… Snape." Severus's hands clenched so tightly that his knuckles became white.

"Potter, haven't seen you in a while. I see you've learnt my name-"

"Shut up! I have to say, I'm not surprised you ended up a Death Eater…" James was now circling him like a shark. The words _"who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?"_ echoed through Snape's head.

"Every time I looked at Harry he reminded me of you, and the way you ran around with your friends, being unnecessarily dangerous and breaking the rules-"

"I said shut up!" James cried. "So I take it you died at the Hogwarts battle too, then?"

"We have one thing in common now, Potter. We were killed by the same wizard." Snape murmured, looking straight forward.

"Killed by your master… can't say you didn't deserve it." Snape couldn't take it any longer. He grabbed James's collar and stared into his eyes.

"Your son would probably be dead now, if it wasn't for me! I've been protecting him and even died so he could stay alive… as has everyone in this room, one way or another. It was a double-act all the time, Potter! The only reason I appeared to be with Voldemort was so I could help your son stay alive! I died to save my…" he glanced at Lily, "-childhood's tormentor's son, The Chosen One! For that - for _that,_ Potter, you should be eternally grateful!" He let James go, and walked away from him. He stopped in his tracks when he got a proper look at Lily. She knew he had done it for her. You could have heard a pin drop. She was as beautiful as he remembered her.

"I don't understand… but… but you're a Death Eater!" James floundered.

"Weren't you listening, Potter? I may have been a Death Eater when you were alive, but I have changed, times have changed! I'm a triple agent!" Severus spat.

James slowly walked towards Snape and, a little awkwardly, put a hand on his shoulder.

"Snape… you're right. Thank you - for helping Harry, even though…Snape, I'm sorry for those stupidthings I did when I was younger-"

"You and Black made bad things worse. Everyone thought of you as the good-natured, adventurous type, a real Gryffindor. But you weren't like that, were you?" Snape said viciously. Sirius was completely silent.

"Snape, honestly, I-" Sirius began, but Snape didn't let him finish.

"I'm talking to Potter, not you." James closed his eyes for a few seconds.

"You're right. If Harry knew this, I wouldn't be surprised if he would have hated me for it…" Snape remained silent for a while.

"He does know. Your intrusive son read my memories," he muttered. "You and him… just don't know when to stop." James was speechless. Lily wasn't looking at either of them, she looked angry and embarrassed.

"It was because… because… I thought you'd take Lily away from me-"

"Don't lie Potter, you're as unconvincing as your son," Snape said angrily. "Lily loved you and no one else!" No one guessed that Snape could be this open. It wasn't in his character to admit his defeat. There was a short silence before Snape started again.

"Do you remember that funny incident after our Defence Against the Dark Arts OWLs?" he spat. "Remember taking off Snivellus' pants?"

"Snape, I was out of order… Completely out of order then, I-"

"That incident doesn't make me squirm every time I think about it because of you, Potter! It was because… you provoked me!" James looked puzzled. Snape looked directly at Lily and whispered, "I don't need help from filthy little…" He didn't finish the sentence. She needed no reminding of how their friendship was never the same again.

A strange humming and buzzing sound came from the other side of the room. Lily, James, Sirius, and Lupin slowly walked over to the strange pool of white light, hovering in the air. As the light dimmed, they could see a faint image of Harry, in the centre of the pool of light. Under their feet were the same twigs and fallen foliage that Harry was walking on, wherever he was. Slowly, leaving Snape and Pettigrew behind in the dark room, their surroundings turned into that of the Forbidden Forest, but everything they could see was bland and ghostly white.

Lily had a wide smile on her face. Even though she could guess the reason why they were all seeing Harry at that particular moment, she was so happy to see her boy looking so brave, so handsome. Harry was staring straight back at her. She felt so proud.

Harry's childish question made Sirius smile slightly.

"Quicker and easier than falling asleep."

"I didn't want you to die, any of you. Right after you'd had your son… Remus, I'm sorry-" Sirius beamed at Lupin's news, then stopped, sensing that it would be sensible not to congratulate him, given the circumstances.

"Stay close to me," were Harry's last words. He sounded scared… but why? He wasn't ready to die yet, Lily was sure. They followed Harry through the forest, trailing a few steps behind him. These few, anxious minutes made Lily feel so happy, joyful even. She didn't understand why - she was watching her son march to his death. It was just seeing him, alive, breathing, fighting in his parents' names that touched her so much. Yet deep inside, she knew it wasn't over. Voldemort wouldn't win. She wanted to be sure of this, yet she didn't find out; the moment Harry revealed himself to the Death Eaters, she felt herself quickly fade away, back into the 'reality' of the room.

Snape was sitting on a chair, head bowed, deep in thought, while Pettigrew was still trying to open the only door to the room.

"Is he going to appear here, then?" Sirius asked.

"Our son will get through this… you'll see." Lily said, taking a seat. When she looked up at Snape, she saw him staring straight at her. His pale skin blushed a little, and he looked down onto his lap. They couldn't speak to each other… what would they say? Snape was in no mood to apologise, and even though Lily felt something needed to be said, she couldn't do it. A long silence lingered awkwardly.

"Snape," Sirius asked, "what happened with Dumbledore?" He phrased this question carefully, so as not to sound accusing.

"You wouldn't understand," he muttered, "Draco Malfoy had been ordered to kill Dumbledore. I had to do it when Malfoy failed, to save him from Voldemort. Dumbledore was dying already. He asked me to do it." None of the group did understand, but none questioned either. A pop came from the side of the room, and grinning erratically, Pettigrew let out a cry of achievement. His mood descended, though, when all he saw was another room, which was even smaller.

"You didn't do that, Wormtail, the door opened by itself." Remus said tiredly. Lily looked at Snape. She nodded and edgily shuffled over, into the room. Snape followed. James looked like he was about to object, but then decided against it. She shut the door behind her at cleared her throat.

"I think you're here for two reasons," she began, "to speak to James and me. And me… to you."

"I did it all for you, Lily," he said quietly. "I couldn't let you die in vain. Every day I had to look into his eyes – your eyes! I only saw one thing. Do you know what I was doing on your wedding day?" Lily waited for an answer. "Nothing. I got the invitation… What were you thinking? How could I have come?"

"Sorry, Sev, I should have guessed," she said, "I'm sorry about those last years of Hogwarts. I shouldn't have completely ignored you like I did."

"I wish I hadn't said it... but Lily, I was angry then, you could see-"

"That doesn't make it alright, Severus," Lily said gently, "but yes, I can see that in the given circumstances… you were provoked. I wish things hadn't turned out like this." She sighed and leaned back against the wall. "Did you ever find anyone else?"

"While I was saving your son getting killed? What do you think, Lily?"

"Sorry. James and I, we are really, truly thankful for what you did, for dying for our son."

"I didn't succeed though, did I?" Snape said, suddenly angry. "Voldemort will kill Harry!" Suddenly, as if replying to his question, a celestial voice echoed through the door from the next room.

"_The chosen one survives. All that have fought for him have succeeded. Tom Riddle is defeated."_

Lily smiled broadly. "Yes you did, Sev, _yes you did!_" she cried. "You saved our son, thank you, _thank you! _What you did is the best act of loyalty anyone could have done."

A long and lingering silence followed.

"Once?" Lily said, in a quiet tone. A small smile crept up on Severus's face.

"Once." Lily bent her head slowly towards Snape. He mirrored her, as he slowly pressed his lips to her slender neck. Those, valuable, blissful seconds were the best Severus had ever known. For Lily it was an action of thanks, but for Snape it was much more, so much more. Snape looked up at Lily longingly, and stroked her cheek. They could hear wind whistling in the other room. They opened the door to see everyone slowly rising upwards. Then, suddenly, in a splash of golden light, everyone disappeared from the dark room.


End file.
